Judge tosses lawsuit over wind farm in tallgrass prairie

[truthpusher]

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/10879769.htm

Posted on Fri, Feb. 11, 2005

Judge tosses lawsuit over wind farm in tallgrass prairie

ROXANA HEGEMAN

Associated Press

WICHITA, Kan. - A federal judge on Friday tossed out a lawsuit filed by a coalition of ranchers and conservationists seeking to block development of a large wind farm in one of North America's few remaining stands of native tallgrass prairie.

(snip)

"This stretch of essentially intact tallgrass prairie is in great danger of being lost if it is fragmented by these industrial wind turbine facilities," Yannacone said. "These are not isolated windmills, these are enormous, gargantuan wind turbine generators."

The proposed wind farm, on 8,000 acres three miles south of Beaumont and about 45 miles east of Wichita, would be the state's largest producer of wind energy. The $190 million project would bring 100 wind turbines - each nearly 400 feet tall. Construction is expected to begin in March.

(snip)

The wind farm is expected to produce 150 megawatts of power - enough to power 42,000 homes annually. Empire District Electric has an agreement to purchase the power.

complete story:

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/news/10879769.htm

[zbdent]

1. Maybe the judge was told about the "footprints" of the towers

only covering a total of 1 acre . . . You know, the only part of the towers actually touching the ground . . .

[gristy]

2. You know, I really cannot oppose this

It sounds like a pretty good way to preserve the prarie (for the most part) and to generate power too. Some less appealing alternatives would be to develop the land for housing, or farm it, or import oil to generate that electricity.

Putting wind turbines on this land sounds like a win-win to me.

[RC]

5. You're in favor of drilling the North slope too, correct?

[gristy]

8. and you've come to this belief how?

Please lead me through your brilliant deductive reasoning... Let me see just how that mind of yours works...

[RC]

12. You would be damaging a habitat.

The whole area would be criss-crossed with roads that do not now exist. You are talking virgin tall grass prairie here.

Read the article:
"If located in places like the cultivated landscapes of western Kansas, they would be much more environmentally friendly," Klataske said, "but to destroy the last 4 percent of North America's tallgrass prairie seems like a crime - even though it is not against the law."

[AZCat]

16. Actually this is my neck of the woods

I don't think this is going to result in the destruction of the habitat for two reasons:

1) The area is already developed - it has roads - because it is lightly used ranch-land. It isn't like the land is isolated from humans.

2) The wind farms planned don't have a very large footprint. There already is one large windfarm in Kansas - near Monteczuma - and while it is in fields as opposed to tallgrass prairie one can compare the necessary acreage.


Yes, this is going to have some impact on the prairie, but I think the tradeoff is worth it.

[jayctravis]

9. Does one need to drill...

to build a wind-turbine? It's not sucking dinosaur goo out of the earth.

[KittyWampus]

3. Will Buffalo Be Roaming Again?

[DURHAM D]

4. I am confused. Is this development on privately owned lands?

I know that several years ago a large tract of tallgrass prarie (some of the last) was donated to the Nature Conservancy. Did the Nature Conservancy turned around and sell it?

[DrWeird]

6. fucking ranchers.

It's like they pull this shit out of spite for the environment.

[Coloradan4Truth]

7. Tough issue!

On the one hand, we all know that utilizing renewable energy lowers the impacts of fossil fuels in the atmosphere and reduces our dependence on foreign oil and domestic drilling.

On the other hand, grassland bird species are one of the most threatened bird species groups in America. Some species have been shown to not nest near these large wind farms (e.g., the Greater prairie chicken) and since the area where this wind farm is scheduled to go is along a narrow north-south linear swath, it will severely fragment these birds habitats.
http://www.audubonofkansas.org/pages/wewind.html

Wind turbines have also been implicated in the deaths of large numbers of bats.

Ahrg! What are we to do?
:thumbsup: :thumbsdown:

[jayctravis]

10. Birds get killed by cars too.

[Coloradan4Truth]

14. True -

and a lot of them.

But even many individuals of a species getting killed by cars is a lot different than most of the breeding pairs of a species being unable to breed.

Perhaps the birds will eventually get used to the turbines, perhaps there are ways to make them less intrusive... all important issues to look into.

[truthpusher]

15. I say do it. Honestly, I think they look nice....

We are gonna get it from somewhere and it sure beats coal.

[KissMeKate]

11. tallgrass prairie is famous virgin prairie

trucks driving in to construct these towers (100 of them?) can really cause damage.

There are SO many other places to put them, where the farming has already damaged the soil- I hope they find a more appropriate place.

[RC]

13. There is also the regular maintenance on each tower.

[UL_Approved]

17. They could find a better spot

These ranchers and conservationists (not conservatives) are not the anti-environmental Ludites some would like to believe.

The wind turbines could be placed on other tracts of land, and I wonder how this comes about anyway.

This has to be public land, since blocking private construction is very difficult.

What is going on here is the use of public land for a private economic venture. This isn't about being "environmentally friendly" or alternative energy. This is about yet again more corporate raiding.

If this utility REALLY gave a shit about the environment, they would take the hit and form lease agreements for wind power on developed ranches and farms in the state. But that would be a business expense (and it would help local agribusiness), and they don't want to do that.

[applegrove]

18. I wonder who threw the money at them to get them to fight this? Hmmmm

I wonder who threw the money at them to get them to fight this? Hmmmm

Who would benefit from less Wind Power?